Gorsuch's Goal in High Court Confirmation Hearing: Don't Mess Up

The new push came as the Senate Judiciary Committee today also began their hearings to consider President Trump's pick to the nation's highest court.

"I have ruled for disabled students, prisoners, and workers alleging civil rights violations". "'Gorsuch's nomination represents an imminent threat to America's most cherished rights and most vulnerable citizens, and millions of Americans across the country are demanding that Democratic leadership use everything in their power to block it, ' the alliance said".

"I think Judge Gorsuch brings a lot of expertise in issues particular to the west".

Monday, Blumenthal and the other senators on the committee will make their opening remarks. Every Supreme Court nominee has to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee before being considered by the entire Senate.

He continued, "The judge was very matter-of-fact in that we would face hard decisions; he himself recalled working late nights when he had a young child with whom he wished to share more time". But delay tactics by Democrats could lead McConnell to exercise procedural maneuvers of his own to eliminate the 60-vote filibuster threshold now in place for Supreme Court nominations, and with it any Democratic leverage to influence the next Supreme Court fight.

Past Supreme Court decisions to strike down bans on gay sex and legalize same-sex marriage were based on an evolving view of who is protected by the Constitution, the letter continues. "Our job is to determine whether Judge Gorsuch is a reasonable mainstream conservative or is he not", Feinstein said on Monday.

"I just want to say that I'm deeply disappointed that under these circumstances that we begin our hearing", said Feinstein, who raised questions about Gorsuch's positons on such issues as abortion and Second Amendment rights. Gorsuch in 2013 sided with Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., whose owners objected to providing the birth-control coverage required under Obamacare.

Given the high-stakes related to Gorsuch's nomination, a short-handed Court and a politically charged atmosphere in Washington, only a situation involving the filibuster or an unforeseen circumstance would prevent Gorsuch from getting a floor vote.

"I don't recall ever seeing a corporation in the pews of Old St. Patrick's Church in Chicago", Durbin said.

"Sometimes it's the individual who will win, sometimes it's the little guy, sometimes it's not", Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah said on the Bloomberg Law radio show Thursday.

"He must be talking about somebody else", Lee said.

After graduating cum laude from Harvard Law School and clerking for Judge David Sentelle in the D.C. Circuit Court, Gorsuch clerked for Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White, whom Gorsuch cited as a mentor during his nomination announcement. As a nominee, he was confirmed rapidly with bipartisan support - not one vote was cast against him, not even from Senators Clinton, Obama or Schumer.

Furthermore, in that same book, Gorsuch questioned whether the Supreme Court had any business defending any sort of unenumerated constitutional rights under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. As dozens of photographers took his picture after he sat down, he got a laugh from the room by turning toward the crowd, raising his hands and grinning. "We've heard all of that stuff before".

University of Massachusetts Director of Legal Studies Paul Collins told 22News about what Gorsuch may be questioned on.